Archived: Birmingham NHS Walk-in centre

Updated 10 January 2018

Birmingham NHS Walk-in Centre is run by The Practice Group under the provider name Chilvers and McCrae. The service is nurse led and provides treatment of minor illnesses and injuries. The service was originally commissioned in 2008. Current commissioning arrangements are held with Birmingham Cross City Clinical Commissioning Group.

The service is located within a busy city centre on the lower ground floor of Boots The Chemist Ltd. There is lift access to this floor. The premises are let to NHS properties for the provision of the walk in centre. There is no specific parking for the Walk-in Centre however, there is a public car park located close by and the service is accessible by public transport. Disabled parking is allowed on the high street.

Patients do not need to be registered or need to make an appointment to use the service. Opening times are restricted to those of the store opening times which includes bank holidays with the exception of Christmas day and Easter Sunday. The service is open 8am to 7pm Monday to Friday, Saturday 9am to 6pm and Sunday 11pm to 4pm. The walk-in centre closes to the public an hour in advance of those times to allow patients already waiting to be seen before the store closes.

Approximately 3200 patients per month are seen at the walk-in centre. The majority of patients seen are of working age who live, study and/or work in the city centre.

The service is registered with CQC as Chilvers & McCrea Limited which sits with The Practice Group. The service is led by the clinical lead nurse and an operations manager (the operations manager also manages a local GP practice within The Practice Group). Other staff include eight nurse practitioners who undertake regular shifts, two health care assistants and a team of four administrative/reception staff. There is a regional management team consisting of clinical and non-clinical members who support the service. The walk in centre is typically staffed with three nurse practitioners and a health care assistant per day.

Updated 10 January 2018

Letter from the Chief Inspector of General Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Birmingham NHS Walk in Centre on 14 March 2017. The overall rating for the service was requires improvement. The full comprehensive report on the March 2017 inspection can be found by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Birmingham NHS Walk in Centre on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

This inspection was an announced focused inspection carried out on 13 December 2017. It was undertaken to confirm that the practice had carried out their plan to meet the legal requirements in relation to the breaches in regulations that we identified in our previous inspection on 14 March 2017. This report covers our findings in relation to those requirements and also additional improvements made since our last inspection.

Overall the practice is now rated as good.

Our key findings were as follows:

• The service had made significant progress in relation to the concerns raised at our previous inspection in March 2017.
• There was an effective system for reporting and recording incidents to support learning and improvement.
• There were effective systems for assessing the risk of, and preventing, detecting and controlling the spread of, infections, including those that were health care associated. Comprehensive audits had been undertaken to assess the risks and actions taken in response.
• There were appropriate systems in place for monitoring prescription stationery.
• Emergency equipment was regularly checked to ensure if was in working order and fit for use when needed.
• A range of clinical audits had been carried out to support service improvements.
• Verbal as well as written complaints were recorded and reviewed to identify trends or themes and support service improvement.
• A closer relationship between the provider organisation and the walk-in centre had been developed and staff felt supported.

Professor Steve Field (CBE FRCP FFPH FRCGP) 

Chief Inspector of General Practice